We have some incredibly big news: We are officially starting the process of Adoption #2!We have shared a few details with friends and family prior to this, but not publicly until today. We have continued to be in close contact with Erica, Levi's Birth Mother, and she has told us that she is pregnant. What makes this so exciting is that she would like us to adopt this baby. Levi is going to have a full biological sibling! Talk about adoptions falling in your lap :-)We are beyond excited and realize that our lives are about to be flipped upside down. We don't know an official due date at this point but based on dates and best guesses, we believe this baby will be due in the middle of February. I know... FEBRUARY! That is in only four months! Erica is scheduled to have an ultrasound in a little over a week and we hope to get more details then. There is a ton of work to be done to prepare for this adoption. I will share more details in my next post, but this adoption will be considered private since we will be working directly with the Birth Mother and not through an adoption agency. Since we will not be using an adoption agency like we did with Levi, this adoption will be very different leading up to the birth of our son or daughter

With all of that exciting news comes a time where we need your prayers. Please pray for our family and Erica as we start this next adoption. We also will begin to fund-raise again for this adoption. To be honest, I am feeling a little overwhelmed about the finances. That is silly because I serve the God who owns everything, but I manage to worry none-the-less. We are still paying off an interest free adoption loan for Levi, and we know that if we are to have Baby #2, God will have to provide in some amazing ways.I feel weird doing this, but if you feel led to donate for our Adoption #2, we would be honored and humbled to receive any financial help you are able and willing to give. Our first financial hurdle is already coming up fast. Jarred and I will be the support system for Erica as she goes through this pregnancy since we will not be using an agency. That means I will make some trips to Florida for doctor appointments. If you recall reading earlier, her first appointment and ultrasound are next week (10/17/13.) We would love to send me to be present to support Erica for the first ultrasound. If I am supposed to be there, I will be and if not then I trust God to care for Erica during this first doctor visit. That being said, we need to raise approximately $800 for me to be able to go to this ultrasound. We need God to show up and for people to donate. Please consider being one of those people. Right now we are just not in a spot financially to pay this. So we are going to trust God to do this for us. For future flights, ultrasounds, and doctor visits we will be more prepared and not need quite as much money, but this one sprung up on us. I am going to start another fundraising effort soon and will update our donation page as well. In the meantime, I am going to place our donation button below. If you would like to donate please click on the "Donate" button below and pay securely through PayPal. For more details about payment options, please click on the Puzzle Fundraiser Tab. I am not sure if we will do another puzzle fundraiser or something entirely different but the page has some details about donating.

Also, please be praying for Erica. She has had some health issues over the past couple of months and could definitely use your prayers. Because she is pregnant she is limited on how she can be treated until after delivery. We love her and hate it that she is having a difficult time.

Levi is now 36 weeks and 2 days! He is over 5lbs and is growing like crazy :-) It is amazing to see how God has been working to take our little guy from 31 weeks when we matched with him and E to 36 weeks. Her water broke early and the doctors were convinced he was going to be born around 32 weeks. I love it when God proves people wrong and chooses to do things the way he wants no matter how it looks to the world. I serve a BIG and loving God!On another note, recently I had the joy of registering for baby items :-) I had so much fun registering. I went with my wonderful friend Emily. She was able to help me choose things that were practical and give me advice from her experience. We "oohed" and "aahhed" over so many adorable items. We are registered at Target, Babies "R" Us and Amazon.com. Also her son, who is 5, was with us and did AMAZING while we walked around the stores. He was so very well behaved. I would love for our little Levi to be a lot like her son. E did tell me that her other children have all been very happy, easy-going and sweet babies. Here is hoping she continues that trend and has another one :-)Please pray for E. She has a Urinary Tract Infection and is on antibiotics. She is doing well otherwise and we have been talking quite a bit. She is planning on registering for nursing school this coming Tuesday. Isn't that awesome that we have nursing in common! Pray for her also as she prepares for the bittersweet day that she chooses to selflessly give Levi into our arms and sign the adoption papers. We spoke about that a bit yesterday and it breaks my heart. I am excited about Levi being born and coming home with us, but I realize that day will be one of E's toughest.

I am continually amazed and humbled by the support both in prayers and financial that we have received. Thank you for walking this adoption path with us. Levi truly has a "village" of support and all of you are part of that. We are blessed beyond what we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

We received great news! We are approved for a matching grant from Hand in Hand. They will match what we fundraise from now until July 6th up to $2,500 for a total of $5,000 raised. I am really excited about this grant because it will hopefully increase people's desire to donate as a result of their donation being doubled. We were planning on having our Price Is Right Adoption Fundraiser in July, however, we might need to push it up to the month of June in order to get the most out of this matching grant. I will let you know as soon as we have a date.

I am working on a donation letter and will be mailing that out to friends and family over the next week or two. If you would like to donate and have your money doubled through Hand in Hand, email me at shannon@pieceoftheheart.com, and I will email you the donation letter with details on how to donate and receive a tax deduction. And as always, your donation of $25 or more will go towards piecing together our adoption puzzle. This Hand in Hand matching grant turns purchasing a single $25 puzzle piece into a buy one puzzle piece get one free. I love BOGOS!

Use the Donate button below to purchase your "Buy One Get One Free" Puzzle Piece:

On another note I have tallied up the votes for the Situation Naming Theme:We have a tie between Candies/Sweets and Ice Cream Flavors both receiving 23% of the votes. So I am giving you another voting opportunity to break the tie. Happy Voting!

We found out late last week that the birth mother in Florida due with a baby boy on July 24th has chosen another family to parent her son. I wish I could say that we weren't disappointed, but we are a little. Apparently this birth mom really liked our profile but chose another family who lived closer. It was still good to receive positive feedback on our profile though. So now the waiting continues as we wait for another situation to present to.We have seen a great deal of progress on our Puzzle Fundraiser. Below is the latest update:

Our Newest Contributors are:Tressa H.Jill & Tony D.Joe & Angela M.Noah M.Ella M.Anonymous DonorThank you for your contributions! Also we received a very generous anonymous donation, and although I don't know who you are, please know that we are extremely grateful! I have added your names to our ever growing Generous Donors list on our Puzzle Fundraiser Tab.

We have been continually humbled and amazed by your generousity! If you would like to know more about how the Puzzle Fundraiser works, click here to be taken to our Puzzle Fundraiser page. You may also click the "Donate" button below to eaily and safely donate using PayPal:

Also, don't forget to use my Amazon link to purchase items from Amazon. Approximately 6% of all purchases made through my link below, go directly to our adoption fund. And the beautiful thing about it is that you don't have to pay anything extra for your donation. We have already raised $180 from your purchases on Amazon. Check out my Amazon link below:

Yesterday afternoon we were notified that we have been approved for another adoption agency. That is great news because it opens up even more possibilities we can present to. So far, I like this agency. We have been assigned a Case Manager named Julie. It is nice to have a designated person at an agency to talk with.

We are still waiting to hear about the baby who is due in June in Arizona. Apparently that agency is working to match another birth mother and they don't have any idea when our situation will match. This is the agency that doesn't tell you if another family is chosen, so we have been emailing them occasionally asking for updates. Carlee has been on top of it for us and that has significantly helped the waiting process. I don't know what I would do without Carlee... She has been amazing. I cannot say enough how thankful I am to have her and Christian Adoption Consultants helping us out.

On another adoption note, Jarred and I are in the very beginning phase of planning an Adoption Fundraiser. We are thinking of using the theme of The Price is Right. I always loved that game show. Jarred has been investigating different games that we could play from the show. Now I need to start calling local businesses to see what prizes we might be able to get donated. If you know of any business that might want to donate a fun prize to our fundraiser, let me know. I am open to suggestions. The plan for the fundraiser is to have a meal and then a night of fun and games with prizes. We are working on the details of the meal now. If the meal works out like I want, you will want to come for the food alone! I am salivating just thinking about it.

And on a non-adoption topic, I want to update you on our dog's health concerns. Yesterday we took Regan to the vet to do a biopsy on the mass that is growing in the bone of her right front leg (as Jarred says her "Front Passenger Side"). The biopsy went well and we are waiting for the results (about 10-14 days). We are praying that it is not cancerous. When we brought her home after the biopsy, she was really medicated and loopy. She is already a slow moving dog, but the anesthesia made her dreadfully slow and wobbly. If it wasn't so pathetic, it would have been funny. She was so doped up that she didn't even respond to the word "Peanut Butter." And that is saying a lot because she LOVES peanut butter and knows what the word means. Just saying the word usually starts a fountain of drool. She had a rough night last night, but was almost back to normal this morning.

I would also like to let everyone know we heard last night from the adoption agency, and another family has been chosen for the little boy due in May. Although that is not the answer we wanted, we are ok and looking forward to hearing about the next situation we can present.I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the Super Bowl. We are planning on visiting the Super Bowl Village in Indy tonight. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I am on top of things...I will take pictures and post them. However, that requires me not only taking my camera with me, but actually taking it out, turning it on and snapping pictures. I am not so good with the last part.

I wanted to let all of you know we found out today that the birth mom in Florida chose another family for her baby boy. I am disappointed, but also a slightly relieved. The month of May seems forever away, and it would be so hard to wait that long. However, a match would be wonderful and would have made the waiting bearable. None-the-less, we continue to wait for another birth mom to present to. There aren't any other situations currently, but I will let you all know when we hear of another. Hopefully the next one will be our baby! And hopefully we will hear a "Yes, you were chosen" very soon. To be honest, waiting is oh so very hard.Also, I wanted to give you a sneak peak into a fundraiser that Jarred and I are planning. It involves games and prizes. Here is a hint as to the theme: "Come on Down!"Any guesses?!?! Can you tell I am excited?!?!

Prayer Requests/Updates:1) My Supervisor's husband suffered a skiing accident last week and had hip surgery yesterday. Please pray for him and his family. He has a long recovery ahead of him and they are both staying in Nevada until he is released to travel (could be 2 weeks.) His name is Kim and my Supervisor is Debbie. 2) Please continue to pray for my co-worker's new grandson, Jack. He was born in December and has been in NICU since delivery. He had to be resuscitated after delivery and is still on a ventilator. My co-worker's name is Kathie.

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. I cannot believe that it is 2012. Time has flown. I am excited to see how 2012 is going to unfold. I believe that 2012 is going to be a wonderful year full of changes and hope.

I wanted to give you an update to our Puzzle Fundraiser and one of our Situations. The situation where the birth mom is due in February has chosen another family. Although that is a little sad, we are still sure of the fact that God has another baby out there specifically for our family. We are still waiting to hear about the birth mom who is due in May. I will let you know when I hear more on that one. In the mean time, we continue to ask for prayer as we wait (usually patiently, but not always...)

If you want to donate to our adoption fund by purchasing a puzzle piece you can click the "Donate" button above and pay securely through PayPal. For more details and other payment options for the Puzzle Piece Fundraiser, click our Puzzle Fundraiser Tab.

Also don't forget to use my Amazon link as you buy those great after Christmas sale items. We have raised $72 from all of you using this link so far. It doesn't cost anything extra to purchase an item through this link, and approximately 6% of the purchase price goes to our adoption fund. Thank you to everyone who has been using and advertising it to friends!

It has been quite a while since I posted an update on our Adoption Puzzle progress. The reason is that my camera takes rather blurry/grainy pictures of the puzzle pieces. I am not sure if it is a camera issue or a user issue.... probably a combination of the above. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my Grandma's ability or love for taking pictures. I do want to get better though, especially for when we bring home a little one :-)Without further ado, here is the latest on our puzzle:

Our newest contributors are:Mary S.Chase Bank (crazy but true... I will explain)Scott & Tara S.Robert & Betty E.Greg, Emily & Andy M.Jeremy M.Amazon PurchasesThank you to each and everyone who has donated!We are definitely making progress.

So you might be thinking that I must be a few bricks short of a load for giving Chase Bank credit for donating to our adoption fund. No, I have not been contacted by a big wig at Chase who was moved by my blog postings... shocking right :-). The long and short of the story is that Chase made an error with a purchase that I made while using Quick Pay (which I might add, I LOVE Quick Pay). They charged me 3 times for the same thing and every time they corrected it, they actually charged me again instead of crediting. However, they were able to correct the errors quickly. And as a "We are so sorry" they put an extra $25 in my account! I can deal with mistakes like that any day when the apology involves money. And not so coincidentally, it was the exact price of one puzzle piece. Yay for us and for Chase!

If you want to donate to our adoption fund by purchasing a puzzle piece you can click the "Donate" button above and pay securely through PayPal. For more details and other payment options for the Puzzle Piece Fundraiser, click our Puzzle Fundraiser Tab.

I have had multiple people mention that they are purchasing puzzle pieces as gifts for their friends and family in lieu of presents. How awesome is that! I have been continually blown away by all of your support and generosity. Thanks!

Also don't forget to use my Amazon link when you finish out your Christmas shopping. We have raised almost $50 from all of you using this link. It doesn't cost anything extra to purchase an item through this link, and approximately 6% of the purchase price goes to our adoption fund. Gotta love Amazon!

(Please excuse the terrible picture. My camera does not like the contrast of the dark table and the light puzzle pieces.)

I wanted to use this post to give you some more information on our Adoption Expenses. Many people ask, "How much does it cost to adopt a newborn?" Here is the breakdown for what we estimate our adoption costs to be: * Home Study = $1,250* Consultation Fee = $1,950* Estimated Agency Fees = $25,000* Estimated Legal Fees = $8,000 * Estimated Travel = $1,600*Estimated Total = $37,800

Sometimes I see that number and I get a knot in my stomach. Other times I see that number and I know that I am going to see how God is going to provide. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are called to adopt, and we have faith that God will provide the means. Ending on a happy note, I was blessed with a wonderful surprise this past weekend! I will have that blog post and pictures very soon. Here is a hint: Covert Operation + The Worlds Best Coworkers = ??? Check out my next blog post in a few days for the answer.